Comments on: Taxi Tomato

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:31:33 +0000

Good luck Mary!

By: Mary Slaughter

Mary Slaughter — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:12:55 +0000

I bought this as a plant from our wonderful local coastal NC nursery and planted it in a pot and soil cocktail that was meant for strawberries (miracle grow organic potting soil, a lot, a lot of organic lime, some organic soil acidifier, and perlite) and man, this plant blew up. It grew huge and dark green and quickly put out countless flowers and all turned to beautiful tomatoes. It’s June 10 and I have over 70 tomatoes on two plants growing and about to ripen (although they are taking forever to ripen!) I’m very excited- I’ll be making some special yellow salsa this year!

By: Karley

Karley — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:10:54 +0000

I grew a Taxi from seed (also from Seed Trust) this year, and… oh my goodness. I had no idea what to expect, but when I bit into that first tomato it was like an explosion of sweet deliciousness in my mouth. It was so sweet I couldn’t even bear to adulterate the taste with a dash of salt. I adore tomatoes of all colors, but I can honestly say these are some of the best tomatoes I’ve ever tasted.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:36:04 +0000

Hi Bill,

While I’m not growing Taxi this year, I don’t usually have this problem. For me it’s usually one of my earliest tomatoes.

If you can’t find any other reason, you might try getting some different seeds from somewhere else. You might also try to change the genetics of the seeds you have by planting say 10 or 20 plants, then only saving seeds from the fastest ripening plant(s). It may just be a matter of acclimating the plants to your area in this way.

By: Bill Samuel

Bill Samuel — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:08:36 +0000

I got a Taxi tomato plant this year. it was the first of my tomato plants to get tomatoes on it. It has continued to get new green tomatoes on it and looks healthy. But the first tomatoes have not changed in size or color for weeks. While it was the first to have tomatoes, it looks like plants of other varieties that didn’t fruit until weeks later will produce ripe fruit while the Taxi’s tomatoes just stay green seemingly forever. Is there some trick to getting them to ripen?

By: Margaret Devine

Margaret Devine — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:53:20 +0000

I just planted a yellow taxi in my tomato cage and am excited that it is an heirloom AND a deterinate for my cage hanger! Hope they are yummy.

By: Robert Brenchley

Robert Brenchley — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:46:53 +0000

This is one of my favourites as well. It seems to be quite variable in the time it takes to produce fruit. If I ever get a series of decent blight-free summers (I grow it out of doors) I may try to breed a slightly earlier version.

By: rosepetal

rosepetal — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:40:16 +0000

in alaska, zone 1, experimenting with taxi, black sea, isis cherry, siberian, red sunset~~ learning by observation…the siberians are wilting on my deck; actual air temp is 70 degrees, but know the ambient temp of the brown deck must be too hot for the siberians, as they are all wilting, while their soil is moist….they must not like temps above 80-90. I am guessing it is 90-100 on the deck now…

any special tips for these other plants, why, send to me, please. Thanks much. Is Bill McDorman of Ketchum?? I used to live in Hailey and took several high altitude gardening classes, and medicinal herbal classes from you, if one in the same. Was young then; never thot i would need to jot down notes! Youth. Ahhhh.
Lots of blossoms to you all out there in cyberspace~~~

By: Lennox

Lennox — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:15:57 +0000

I have grown taxi tomatoes two years in a row. They are prolific but bear the worst tasting, mushiest tomatoes I have ever eaten. I would have ripped up the plants second time around when I confirmed that’s the way they really taste, but I just couldn’t kill those beautiful bushes.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:03:53 +0000

I bought something that was labeled as a Taxi tomato seedling. The plant struggled at the beginning of the season – it proved quite sensitive to cold. But the plant is thriving at this point and it has produced several large, meaty, bright RED tomatoes. I am wondering whether I bought a “fire engine” tomato by mistake.

We really enjoyed our “Great White” tomatoes, but it has not produced much fruit. Our Reisentraube cherry tomatoes have been the top performers – first to ripen, still producing fruit like crazy, and quite tasty. They are technically a grape tomato, but we’ve had some up to 2 inches in diameter!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:35:43 +0000

Territorial Seed carries Taxi. Very beautiful and quite early, a bit mild for my taste, but some people really loved it. I’d grow it every year, but I just don’t like determinates…

My early tomato is Polar Baby, they are small red
ones, just a bit over cherry-size. They come in weeks earlier than anything else every year.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:39:52 +0000

Patrick, I love the personal histories we have with our different crops! Our tomatoes went in late this year so I have yet to try any of them – I planted a whole bunch of new heirlooms – in fact only heirlooms this year.

My favorite is the same as Rhonda’s: Pink Brandywine. I bought one from a farmer’s market a few years ago, from a lovely elder farmer. That was my entryway into the amazing world of heirloom tomatoes.

By: leigh

leigh — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:48:46 +0000

Thanks Patrick – I’ll put Matt’s Wild Cherry on my list of candidates!

By: CityGarden

CityGarden — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:59:53 +0000

I want!

I’ll send you my address

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:09:45 +0000

Rhonda Jean: Thanks for the comment. Tomato water sounds like an interesting cooking ingredient!

Leigh: Have you ever tried Matt’s Wild Cherry? If you like Red Currant, you might like it. I think the taste is better, and the fruits are a little bigger. It’s probably not as heavy a cropper.

Superweed: I guess what’s controversial is not everyone agrees it tastes good. Here are some reviews at Dave’s Garden, which are mostly not very positive and emphasize it being bland:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/554/

Here’s another from Dan Jason, an experienced heirloom seed collector in Canada, which is much more positive (rating it 8 out of 10) and says it has good flavor:

http://www.seedsanctuary.com/tomatoes/index.cfm?expand=yes

Charlie Trotter of the restaurant I went to thought it was absolutely gourmet quality and featured it as such on his menu.

It’s true it’s a little sweet and low acid, but it’s also very fragrant and I at least think it has a nice taste. It’s also a bit on the bland side, but I don’t think that’s always a bad thing with tomatoes.

I guess it tastes different to different people.